The Kashmir conundrum
Posted on 01. Feb, 2012 by S M Hali in Kashmir
A three year old girl killed for her terrorist activities?
The world has stood aghast at the nuclear flashpoint but has not interceded for the Kashmiris because of India’s clout and superior exterior maneuver. President Obama had promised to help resolve the Kashmir issue in his election campaign but after occupying the office of Presidency, suffered a memory lapse over the sensitive subject owing to US overtures to India.
By S. M. Hali
The Kashmir conundrum continues to haunt the people of the region as well as the world since it is a flashpoint between nuclear weapons equipped Pakistan and India. The predicament is a legacy of the British rule in India and an unfinished agenda of the partition of the Indian Sub-continent in 1947. India illegally occupied the valley of Kashmir, negating the Independence Act of 1947. Pakistan and India went to war in 1947-48, which allowed Pakistan to liberate some territory but India approached the UN and secured a ceasefire. After deliberations the UN passed Resolutions 37, 39, 47 and 51, which dictated that a UN sponsored plebiscite would be held in Kashmir permitting the people to decide their own fate. India agreed to abide by the UN Resolutions but later reneged, resulting in the 1965 and 1971 Pak-India wars and a number of skirmishes but the Kashmiris’ fate did not change. In 1989, the Kashmiris decided to take matters in their own hands and arose in an armed revolt, which was crushed by India militarily. Over 700,000 soldiers were deployed in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), who over the past 23 years have martyred over 100,000 Kashmiris, raped their women and torched their homes, shops and orchards while thousands of Kashmiri youth are still suffering incarceration. What is worse is that India has tried to misrepresent the just freedom struggle as insurgency.
The world has stood aghast at the nuclear flashpoint but has not interceded for the Kashmiris because of India’s clout and superior exterior maneuver. President Obama had promised to help resolve the Kashmir issue in his election campaign but after occupying the office of Presidency, suffered a memory lapse over the sensitive subject owing to US overtures to India. So much so that during his visit to India in 2010, he was presented with a request signed by 4500 prominent Kashmiri leaders, US and British Parliamentarians urging India to resolve the Kashmir issue; however their appeal fell on deaf ears. To add salt to the wound, Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, a staunch and ardent supporter of the Kashmiri cause, and an American citizen of Kashmiri origin, from IOK, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the behest of India on July 19, 2011. He has been charged with accepting funds from Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI, which is a pathetic lie and attempt to silence an innocent promoter of the Kashmiri cause in the US.
Pakistan has been providing diplomatic and moral support to the Kashmiris, which is not based on emotional ties alone but also derives strength from cold logic. Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah with prescience, had called Kashmir the “jugular vein of Pakistan”. Since most of the rivers of Pakistan, especially those running through the breadbasket of Punjab originate from Kashmir, it was imperative that Pakistan acquire control of the strife-torn Valley. Soon India started dictating terms on Pakistan’s waters till Pakistan managed to sign the Indus Water Treaty with India in 1960 under the aegis of the World Bank. Resultantly, Pakistan retained the use of waters in Jhelum, Chenab and Indus but relinquished Sutlej, Beas and Ravi to India. Being a lower riparian, Pakistan is at a disadvantage, with India building illegal dams and reservoirs on the western rivers. It is a point of caution that while Pakistan is pressing for a solution of the Kashmir conundrum, it must be mindful of the geographical and demographic realities. In case the Kashmir issue is resolved on a division of the territory on the basis of the majority of the population, as was the case for the creation of Pakistan, the origins of the three western rivers, currently in Pakistani control must be taken into consideration. Indus originates in Tibet, passing through Ladakh, which has a Buddhist majority and will not vote for accession to Pakistan. Chenab originates from the Himachal Pradesh and flows through Jammu, where Hindus constitute 65% of the population; hence accession to Pakistan is not viable. That leaves only Jhelum, which rises from a spring at Verinag situated at the foot of the Pir Panjal in the south-eastern part of the valley of Kashmir, which does have a Muslim majority. Pakistan cannot afford to lose control of its western rivers too as the Indus water treaty will have to be revised and India may get decisions in its favour. Thus the solution of the Kashmir imbroglio has numerous pitfalls which must be avoided and prudent steps need to be taken to safeguard Pakistan’s interests.
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3 Responses to “The Kashmir conundrum”
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S M Hali
Parvez Haque
01. Feb, 2012
As a patriotic Pakistani, I believe Kashmir is far more imporatnt than Pakistan, and that the arrest of Ghulam Nabi Fai, who is staunchly pro-Pakistani, should provoke a much stronger reaction in Pakistan than the sentencing of Dr Aafia Siddiqui. Kashmir is much closer to our hearts than East Pakistan or Balochistan ever was. We do not regard the Baloch as human, and the Bangalis definitely not, but (Muslim) Kashmiris are the apples of our eyes. Dr Aafia Siddiqui just tried to kill a few lazy Americans, but Fai has been our faithful agent for 20 years. Kashmir will always be a part of Pakistan, even if its the only thing we are left with. We will starve and beg from China and USA, we will kill the Baloch and dump their bodies in the streets, we will let Karachi be taken over by thugs and goons, but will support Fai and Kashmiri separatists with our last drop of blood. Let the Indus was away Sindh! Let the only way to see Karachi be via helicopter; it is a great sight to see the gang wars beneath.We must pay the Hurriyat millions even if we can’t pay our electricity bills. We can allow memogate to drag Pakistan's name in the dust. We can allow Bangladesh to overtake us in GNP. We can allow Balochistan to break away. But we must not rest till Kashmir is ours. Kashmir Paindabad
Afriq
02. Feb, 2012
Sir, as always your articles provide great wisdom and vision and i am sure real true Pakistanis know that well.
the source of LIFE is WATER.
Hope your Foreign Minister WILL handel that matter as well as she has handeled the naTo/US BS
"old wine in an even older bottle"
brilliant Ms Khar! You have learnt in very short time how to deal with cowards, thugs + LIARS
Khalif
02. Feb, 2012
"Pakistan has been providing diplomatic and moral support to the Kashmiris…"
you do not need to justify to anyone It is YOUR right to act in all ways – decent, moral, ethical, religious & especially geo-political +strategic.